NCAA Lacrosse Freshman Rankings: March 21

Compared to last year's star-studded crop of freshman contributors, this year's class isn't as stocked with top-end productivity, but runs about 40-deep in guys that have made significant contributions to their teams.

In looking at the year's most surprising teams (UMass, Loyola, Lehigh, Fairfield, Colgate), the Minutemen and the Greyhounds are veteran-laden, while the Mountain Hawks, Stags and Raiders are being paced by incredibly valuable freshmen performances.

1. Matt Poillon, G, Lehigh (62.0%, 5.82GAA in 9 games)
Among the nation's leaders in save percentage, Poillon has been key to the Mountain Hawks' surprising start in 2012. Coming in, the Mount Sinai native says he expected to compete for a backup job because of the talented upperclassmen ahead of him. But with the way the chips fell, Poillon stepped in right away and played best in Lehigh's biggest games — he made 10 saves against Penn State, 13 saves against Army and eight against North Carolina.

2. Ryan Walsh, A, Colgate (19G, 10A in 8 games)
The perfect compliment to Player of the Year candidate Peter Baum, Walsh is a balanced offensive threat who can share the scoring load for a Raider team that had high aspirations heading into 2012 because of its depth of complimentary pieces, but needed an attackman to step up. Walsh has risen to the challenge and helped Colgate to one of the nation's hottest starts.

3. Ryan Tucker, M, Virginia (10G, 10GB in 8 games)
Rob Emery, Chris LaPierre, Shamel and Rhamel Bratton — the Cavs have a remarkable recent history of bringing in first-year middies that contribute right away. Tucker was initialy expected to compete for time at shortick d-middie, but he's been so good that the nation's top-ranked team has had to run him with the first midfield at stretches throughout the year.

4. Matt Donovan, A, Cornell (7G, 6A in 6 games)
Donovan surprised in the fall, stepping up quickly as the dual-threat attackman that Rob Pannell took under his wing. His load increased dramatically when Pannell went down with an injury in the Big Red's second game and Donovan was asked to control the ball more alongside finisher Steve Mock and slasher Connor English. While his numbers aren't eye-popping, his steadying presence has been exceptional.

5. Kevin Massa, F/O, Bryant (63.6%, 47GB in 6 games)
The Bulldogs are flirting with the Top 20 because of their effective ball control style and goalie play. And both of those jobs are made easier by winning face-offs, which Massa's doing in spades as the nation's fourth-ranked face-off guy.

6. Goran Murray, D, Maryland (7GB, 6CT in 6 games)
A starter in every game, Murray impressed fans with his performance against Jordan Wolf in the Terps' 10-7 win over Duke. Murray's fast and athletic, a nice compliment for the traditional bruising defenders Maryland is known for, like linemate Mike Ehrhardt.

7. David Dickson, A, Bucknell (9G, 12A in 8 games)
After Charlie Streep went down with an injury in the fall, coach Frank Fedorjaka moved Billy Eisenreich to attack to balance the distrubtor's load with goal scorers Chase Bailey and Todd Heritage. He couldn't have seen coming what Dickson has done, stepping in as a freshman and handling the playmaker responsibilities well in an attack that's finding its stride after early struggles.

8. Colin McLinden, M, Fairfield (5G, 9A, 7GB in 8 games)
Not only are his assist numbers very impressive for a midfielder, McLinden has been clutch in the Stags' early season one-goal and overtime wins, notching a game-winning goal and assist to this point in 2012.

9. John Glesener, M, Army (11G, 7A, 5 GB in 8 games)
Army hasn't gotten off to the start they'd have liked, but Glesener's lived up to the billing as a top recruit he had coming out of high school two years ago.

10. Keith Dreyer, A, Air Force (9G, 17A in 6 games)
The nation's leading freshman scorer at 4.33 points per game, Dreyer has helped Air Force to a 3-3 start, including an upset win over Army.